Chasing the Moon
by Grace157
Summary: Lupin has told her that he isn't looking for a relationship but it seems that Tonks has got other plans in mind, and if it involves making his life at the Order nothing short of chaotic then so be it. A fluffy series of one-shots in which Tonks refuses to take no for an answer.
1. Early Morning Blues

_Author's Note: A little something I wanted to upload in time for Valentine's Day but it ended up being a bit late (it was a full moon this week- could a Lupin fic be any more appropriate?), though I'm hoping to post another five parts or so. I'm not much of a Remadora shipper as a general rule, but I love the idea of Tonks refusing to leave Lupin alone. The title may change later, so keep an eye on it._

* * *

He'd known this day was coming. He just hadn't expected it quite so soon.

Lupin stared glumly at the boiling kettle on the stove, trailing his wand absently through the steam curling up from the spout. It was seven o'clock on a Monday morning at number twelve Grimmauld Place, and as usual he was the first one up, though it seemed that this particular morning wasn't going to go as smoothly as most. With a sigh, he took the kettle off the boil and poured hot water into two spotted blue mugs.

A hand reached out to take one. 'Thanks.' Tonks smiled warmly at him as she cradled the hot drink close to her chest. 'Free coffee? I should get weighed under with work more often.' She'd arrived only a few minutes ago with a stack of papers as thick as her arm. In typical Tonks fashion, they were due in today and she hadn't even started on them.

Lupin found himself unable to meet her fond expression and turned away to reach for the small pot sitting next to the stove. 'Do you take sugar?'

'No, ta.' She took a noisy slurp as he heaped several teaspoonfuls into his own mug. Why did it have to be today?

When he turned back she was wearing a satisfied expression. 'You make a good cup of coffee, Remus.' She leant back against the counter, eyes closing as she inhaled the steam. With her pink hair tamed to a gentle marshmallow she looked uncharacteristically peaceful. Lupin hated to spoil the mood, but he might as well get it over with.

'Tonks,' he said slowly, putting down his mug, 'I've been meaning to have a talk with you.'

Tonks opened her eyes sleepily. 'Yeah?'

He slipped his hands into his pockets to prevent himself from fidgeting and forced himself to hold eye contact with her. 'What we have between us... it's been wonderful working with you, and I'm very glad that we're good friends-'

'Hear, hear.' Tonks toasted him with her mug before talking another long draught from it.

Lupin took a deep breath. 'And that's the way I think it should stay.' The words fell like dead weights between them and he immediately wanted to snatch them back out of the air, but he'd made up his mind to have this issue addressed before it had the chance to go any further. After a year of working together they'd become very close friends, but recently Tonks been dropping hints that she might be after something more than friendship.

'Oh.' Tonks raised an eyebrow. 'I see.'

'Now I don't want you to be offended,' he said hastily, 'but I just wanted to clarify should the thought have occurred to you. I consider my job at the Order my first priority and I'm not looking for anything... not right now.'

At the last three words, Tonks raised her other eyebrow. She didn't look angry or embarrassed as he'd expected her to be. Instead, she looked puzzled. 'What, never?' She put her empty coffee cup down on the counter without looking at it.

'I'm not the right person for you,' he said wearily. 'Believe me when I say it wouldn't work.'

Tonks took the tiniest of steps towards him, hands clasped together behind her back. 'Are you sure about that, Remus?' she asked quietly, with the tiniest glimmer of mischief in her eyes.

'I'm too old for you, Nymphadora,' said Lupin sternly. 'And if you think that I'm going to let a young witch like yourself be stuck with someone like me-'

'Aww, look at you getting all schoolmasterly,' she chuckled.

_'Tonks-'_

'It's nice of you to be concerned Remus, but I _am _old enough to think for myself, thanks. And besides-' She smirked at him. '-so what if I like older men?'

'Now look,' said Lupin, feeling his cheeks grow warm despite himself. 'I am not the kind to joke around and I do not say this lightly. I'm a social outcast, a burden, unable to find work or keep a house of my own- and what's more I'm at least ten years your senior.' He lowered his voice as he heard the front door opening. Moody was always one of the first to arrive. 'I am not suitable for someone like you.' Tonks opened her mouth to interrupt but he shook his head at her. 'Now please, I don't want to hear another word on the matter. I want you to dismiss this idea completely, and find someone who isn't as dangerous as I am.'

Tonks stared at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments, then shrugged. 'Alright,' she said, holding out her hands for emphasis. 'Alright, you've convinced me.'

Lupin blinked. 'I have?'

She nodded vigorously. 'Yup. Totally convinced.' She picked up the stack of papers from the kitchen table and hefted them under her arm. 'And I _solemnly swear_ that I won't say another word about it.' She began to edge out of the doorway.

Lupin relaxed hesitantly. 'Good. I'm glad we're clear.'

'Not another word,' she reiterated, then her face broke into an enormous grin and she slunk out of the room. 'See you later, Remus. And thanks for the coffee.' She winked at him, then the door closed behind her.

Lupin listened to the sound of her retreating footsteps, taking a thoughtful sip of his coffee. Had he been firm enough with her? Perhaps his worries had been unfounded, but she'd still been unusually cheerful about it all. He'd like to think that she'd taken his advice, except that he'd seen that expression on her cousin's face all too often. It was the one Sirius had worn back at Hogwarts whenever he had a great plan up his sleeve, usually involving a prank of some kind...

Lupin sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily. He had a feeling it was going to be a long week.


	2. A Splash of Colour

_Author's Note: Part two is here! Quick thank you to everyone who took the time to read and review part one. I'm really pleased that so many have enjoyed it so far._

* * *

True to her word, Tonks didn't mention their conversation for the rest of the week. In fact she acted as though nothing had happened at all, and to Lupin's relief she remained as friendly towards him as always- though he had to remind himself that it didn't hurt to put a little distance between them. He was only glad their talk hadn't offended her. To lose her as a friend... it would make life at the Order much more uncomfortable, to say the least. Such was his relief that for a while he failed to notice the subtle changes in Tonks' behaviour that occurred as the days went by.

It was only small things at first: the odd smile when he walked into a room and the occasional glance that lasted perhaps a second too long. Tonks always seemed to have work to do, and she began arriving early with stacks of papers almost every day. Initially Lupin thought nothing of it, and he welcomed the newfound company on those quiet mornings before the day started. But when he came downstairs one day to find her already sitting at the table with two cups of coffee he began to wonder if there was something he was missing.

Tonks also developed an uncanny knack of knowing where he was at all hours of the day. More often than not whenever he went in search of a quiet place to read he'd find her there before him, casually practicing her charms or experimenting with different hair colours. Something about it didn't feel right, but it wasn't until over a week had passed that Lupin finally worked out what she was doing.

Wednesday was conference day, which meant yet another two-hour meeting in the drawing room to assess the current situation of the giant alliances. Lupin had little to contribute to the discussion, and as his thoughts drifted he found his gaze wandering over the faces other Order members. Hagrid was listening with rapt attention to Moody's speech and puffing out his chest importantly, but opposite him Sirius looked about ready to fall asleep in his chair. Tonks' head was propped up on one elbow but she was doing her best to look interested, nodding every so often when Moody looked her way. He smiled at her bored expression. It was rare to see her sitting still for so long. She was twirling a lock of hair around her finger, and as he watched the strands turned acid green, then turquoise, then the deepest shade of magenta-

'Honestly Remus, could you try to pay attention?' growled Moody, his magical eye scrutinising Lupin with disapproval as he slammed a hand on the table and sent the cups rattling. 'We need to reach a decision by the end of today and I'm not in the habit of repeating myself.'

Lupin blinked stupidly and looked about him, realising that he'd lost the thread of the conversation. The majority of the Order looked vaguely sympathetic, no doubt attributing his distractionto the approaching full moon, but Sirius was giving him a strangely knowing sort of look which he didn't like at all. Tonks smiled at him uncertainly before turning back to the discussion. Had she noticed him looking?

'I'm sorry Alastor, please continue,' he said politely, whilst mentally giving himself a smack upside the head. He'd made a point of not giving out mixed messages. Why on earth had he been staring at her like that?

Moody grunted and straightened up. 'Now as I was saying...'

Sirius raised his eyebrows at him questioningly, but Lupin only shook his head slightly before fixing his attention on Moody. He didn't want to catch Tonks' eye again.

Once the meeting was over Lupin helped Mrs. Weasley clear the cups away and gallantly insisted on washing up. Aside from any awkward questions Sirius might ask he wanted to avoid facing Tonks if possible, so it was without much thought that he turned on the taps and rolled up his sleeves before proceeding to wash up manually. Cleaning the brown-stained mugs only reminded him of the previous Monday,but at least it kept him out of the way until-

'Want a hand?' murmured a voice in his ear.

Lupin started, and the cup he'd been holding fell from his grip and shattered on the floor. 'Tonks, don't do that!' he protested, picking up the tea towel and attempting to mop up the suds he'd spilt down his jumper. 'You startled me.'

Tonks took out her wand. '_Reparo._ Sorry, Remus. _Accio._' With one flick of her wand the pieces reassembled, and with another it was clutched in her hand. 'Not like you to be clumsy,' she observed, 'maybe it's catching.' Lupin shrugged, turning back to the sink. He paused as she leant over him, her elbow lightly brushing his hip as she dropped the cup back into the sink. 'You seemed a bit tense at the meeting. Anything I can help with?'

Lupin shook his head. 'It's nothing some sleep won't cure,' he assured her as he rinsed off the last cup. Truth be told it was nothing a cold night in Sirius' cellar wouldn't cure, but she took his meaning with a sympathetic nod.

Tonks picked up the bottle of washing up liquid and made an appreciative noise. 'Good colour.' In a flash, her straight pink hair became lemon yellow curls. She swished it experimentally. 'What do you think?'

Lupin spared her a glance and instantly felt his eyes watering, though it was hard not to admire the way it bounced over her shoulders. 'A little harsh on the eyes, perhaps,' he allowed, forcing himself to look away for the secondtime that morning. Tonks could make even the most bizarre hairstyle look like a fashion statement.

'Hmm, maybe you're right.' With another shake of the head she was back to her usual shocking pink. 'Do you want someone to dry?' She indicated the stack of dripping mugs now sitting on the draining board.

'No, thank you.' He picked up the tea towel before she could reach for it. So much for getting away quickly. 'Don't you have to attend that infiltration conference at eleven-thirty?'

'Cancelled,' she said simply,siding closer to him as he started drying. Lupin wasn't sure why she seemed so distracting until he realised that he was having to restrict his arm movements to avoid elbowing her in the stomach. He stepped away from her mumbling an apology, but by the time he'd finished with another two cups there was barely three inches of space between them again. He glanced at her as he put it back on the drainer and caught a mischievous glint in her eye. 'Did you need something, Nymphadora?' he asked pointedly.

Tonks shrugged, choosing not to address his use of her first name. She'd been allowing for that a lot lately, he realised. 'Not really. Just thought you might want some help.'

He smiled. 'There are only six cups. I think I'm capable, thank you.'

All the same she handed him the next one, and as their fingers brushed he gulped slightly. Lupin surreptitiously switched the tea towel to his left hand to avoid accidents and tried to ignore the invasion of his personal space.

Tonks laughed softly and leant in close. 'You know it would go a lot quicker if you used magic?' she whispered, her warm breath tickling his ear.

'I- I've never been very good at domestic spells,' he stuttered, and his excuse for hiding out of the way sounded pathetic even to his ears. He turned slowly towards her, hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt. Tonks was so close that he could smell her watermelon shampoo, and his skin prickled in anticipation of her touch as she leant still closer.

'Be a lot easier with two,' she breathed, her lips almost brushing his, and before he could say another word she'd walked past him and left the kitchen without a glance behind her.

Lupin stared after her, dumbstruck. All of a sudden, everything about Tonks' strange behaviour made sense: as he'd feared, his talk with her hadmisfired, though not in the way he'd expected it to. In attempting to erase the subject from her mind he'd only brought it to her attention, and now she was testing out just how much she could get away with. Tonks was a loyal and devoted friend but also the most persistent witch he'd ever met, and once she'd set her mind on something there was little stopping her.

Lupin put down the tea towel with a sigh. He felt a headache coming on. It was entirely the moon's fault he told himself, stowing the bottle of washing up liquid back in the cupboard under the sink. It had absolutely nothing to do with Tonks' hair. Nothing whatsoever.

He looked up as a shadow appeared in the doorway. 'So then, Moony old friend.' Sirius was smiling at him expectantly, hands in pockets. 'Spill the beans.'


	3. Wolf Hounded

_Author's Note: This one was a devil to write. I am seriously sorry that this one has taken so much longer to be posted. My final A-level exams are coming up and revision is eating up most of my free time so please be patient with me (the next few chapters are already drafted so they shouldn't take as long in the future). In case anyone was wondering by the way, this story isn't set within any specific timeline so don't be surprised if some events disagree with the books; just think of it as an alternate canon where some bits are switched around. _

* * *

Lupin glanced uneasily over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs to the third floorlanding, wincing at every step that creaked under his foot. It was ridiculous to be sneaking around the house like this- in his own home, technically- but he'd had a long day and really needed to be somewhere quiet for a while. Lunch hour had become one of the most stressful times of the day, and finding places to go where... _others_ wouldn't find him was getting increasingly difficult.

The door at the end of the landing had once led to the bedroom of Walburga Black, Sirius' mother. Now when he eased it open it revealed a spacious room devoid of furniture. The thick green carpet had been torn away along with the matching curtains and straw was scattered over the bare floorboards. A small mountain of cushions was heaped up in the far corner beside a bucket of water and a horse's grooming brush. The room's current occupant had looked up at the sound of the door handle and now he wandered over to him, studying him unblinkingly with a beady orangeeye.

'Hello again, Buckbeak,' he said softly, reaching out to pat the Hippogriff on the beak.

'Remus?'

Lupin jumped guiltily. Sirius was crouched behind the great bird, rummaging in a large burlapsack. 'Checking on Buckbeak?' he asked with a knowing smile, then shook his head. 'Don't worry, I won't give you away. It's a good place to hide when you need the peace.'

'Would you mind if I stayed here awhile?' he asked tentatively.

'Not at all.' Sirius reachedinto the bag again and pulled out a dead ferret. 'As long as you're not squeamish, only he hasn't had his lunch yet.' He pointed to a battered old stool lying on the floor.

Lupin sat down gratefully, aware of all the aches and pains in his muscles and joints as he did so. It was still two weeks until the next full moon, but it might as well have been two days.

'You aren't looking too well, you know,' Sirius noted, dangling the furry snack in front of the Hippogriff's face. 'Bad week?' When Lupin didn't reply, he smirked. 'I don't suppose it has anything to do with what's going on between you and a certain pink-haired witch?'

Lupin raised his head. It had been two weeks since the washing up incident, but despite Sirius' many probing questions he had refused to explain the situation to him. For one thing, it was too embarrassing. 'What makes you say that?' he asked blankly.

Buckbeak's head jabbed forwards and snapped up the food, squirting blood onto the floor. Sirius made a mock-thoughtful face. 'Oh, only the various _hints _she's been dropping here and there.'

Lupin leant back against the wall and closed his eyes. 'Hints?'

'You know, the way she's been following you around like an overfriendly pygmy puff, hiding any possessions you care to leave lying around the house, ahem, _falling _into you whenever you pass by- or should I say _onto_ you...?'

Lupin blushed. In a particularly well-executed move, Tonks had "missed" the bottom step when coming downstairs one afternoon and used him as a landing mat. Her chin had slammed into his forehead and just about knocked him senseless. 'I thought no one had seen that,' he said stiffly.

Sirius grinned. 'Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm happy for you both.'

Lupin fixed his gaze on the blood-stained floorboards, where Buckbeak was busy snapping up the leftovers he'd dropped. 'There's nothing going on between us,' he said firmly, 'it's just... taking her a while to get the message.'

Sirius let out a great guffaw that made Buckbeak squawk and ruffle his feathers indignantly. 'So _that's _what this is all about!' he cried. 'Why didn't you tell me before?'

Lupin glared at him. 'It isn't something I feel comfortable talking about.'

Having crunched his way through his first helping, Buckbeak looked pointedly at the uneaten ferret hanging at Sirius' side, but Sirius ignored him. 'You know you can always tell me, though,' he said, sounding a little hurt. 'Is it really bothering you that much?' Tossing the ferret at the Hippogriff's feet, he sat down on the floor in front of him. 'Come on, talk to uncle Padfoot. I promise I won't laugh.'

Despite himself, Lupin couldn't resist a small smile. 'You were always one for gossip, weren't you? Alright,' he said wearily, 'here's what happened.'

And he told him the full account of Tonks' deeds, beginning with the giant alliances meeting. He'd suspected that Tonks had been planning something, but even he hadn't predicted the lengths that she would go to. It was only little things at first, like staring at him from across the table whenever they ended up at a conference together, but it hadn't taken Lupin long to realise that he was seriously out of his depth. She developed a particularly unnerving habit of standing in doorways at key points of the house, ready with a loud greeting whenever he passed so that he ended up constantly peering around doorways before entering a room. In only a few days, Tonks had turned the Order Headquarters into a hunting ground.

'I had no idea she was so persistent,' Sirius chortled. 'And she's been at this for...?'

'Two weeks,' Lupin sighed. 'I'm beginning to wonder if she'll ever give up.'

He sat back on his haunches with a look of dawning understanding. 'So that's what all that book business was about.'

'You know about _that _as well?' Lupin was beginning to wonder if it was possible to keep anything a secret anymore.

'Only a garbled version from Tonks, but I assume it was exaggerated slightly.' All the same, he looked to him hopefully, eager to get the full story. Grudgingly, Lupin obliged.

He'd been on his way back from lunch one afternoon when he remembered that the notes he'd written for his talk on the werewolf intelligence gathering were folded into the book he'd been reading the previous night (even for someone who usually had pockets full of chocolate wrappers, Lupin was often short of bookmarks). Hurrying back to the reading room, he searched the sofa where he'd been sitting but it was nowhere to be found.

'Lost something, have you Remus?' asked Tonks innocently, stepping out from behind the door where she'd apparently been examining a spider's web.

'Yes,' he said. 'I don't suppose you've seen a book of Muggle poetry lying around?'

'"_The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe"?'_

'That's the one.'

She shook her head vigorously, hands behind her back. 'Nope, haven't seen it.'

Lupin straightened up slowly from his inspection of the sofa cushions. 'Are you quite sure?' He frowned at her, and she held out her empty hands obediently.

'Not _completely_ sure.' She opened her arms, and he noticed that she was wearing one of her snuggest leather jackets. 'Might be worth checking just to be on the safe side. D'you think it could be in one of the inside pockets?'

Lupin glanced up at the ticking clock on the wall. The meeting was in less than five minutes and he really needed those notes...

Tonks' smirk faltered as he drew his wand and summoned the book from its hiding place- stuffed behind the cushions on the opposite sofa. 'Nice try,' he murmured, and left the room with a smug smile on his face, pleased to have the upper hand for once.

He wasn't smiling the next day when she hid his wand instead.

'You said you wouldn't laugh,' Lupin protested as Sirius snorted.

'I'm sorry, but she does remind you of how we used to be, doesn't she?' He waved a hand. 'Do go on.'

He hadn't thought it was possible, but Tonks seemed to become even clumsier than she normally was. The numerous crashes and bangs that followed him at every turn were a constant source of misery for Mrs. Black's portrait in the hall, and anyone who had to walk past her. Almost every day Lupin ended up with something spilt over him, whether it was milk and cornflakes,pumpkin juice, or boxes of itching powder she'd confiscated from Mundungus. Each time she would "helpfully" offer to wipe it off for him, and he was glad that his time cleaning up after James and Sirius' pranks had provided him with skill at scouring charms. That said, some of the stains just refused to come out and the majority of his jumpers were currently in the wash (luckily Mrs. Weasley wasn't one to pry). It was only the hot tea incident that had truly tested his patience; that time it probably _had_ been an accident but the results were still painful. He shifted uncomfortably on the hard stool.

Sirius was shaking his head, still smiling. 'I never thought I'd see the day that Remus Lupin was out-pranked by a Hufflepuff.'

'I'm just not sure what to do,' said Lupin, rubbing his forehead wearily. 'I don't know how to cool her enthusiasm without offending her, and I don't want to risk our friendship. How am I supposed to be professional about it when she keeps...' He gestured vaguely, but his friend got the point.

'I see the problem. But aren't you just a little flattered by it? You told me only a few weeks ago it's been a while, and back at Hogwarts-'

'We were all silly young idiots who welcomed the attention. Now I have a job to do, and it's just... getting in the way. She's a very fine witch, but I can't just-'

'Do you have any feelings for her?'

'I-' For a moment, Lupin didn't know quite what to say. This wasn't a question he'd been expecting. 'Does it matter? She knows perfectly well it would never work between us.'

Sirius had a strange expression on his face and he seemed about to say something before changing his mind. 'So what are you going to do?' he asked finally.

Lupin sighed. 'Ignore her, I suppose, until she gets bored. I've tried talking to her but she just won't listen. She knows full well how I stand; flirting won't change that.'

'Well, go easy on her, won't you? I'm sure she means well.'

'You wouldn't say that if she was chasing _you_,' Lupin pointed out.

He shrugged. 'So she's a bit off-the-wall, but at least she's brave enough to let you know how she feels. There aren't many women around like her- even if she _is_ a little odd.' He smirked. 'You're two of a kind, if you ask me.'

With an unexpected amount of effort, Lupin stood up. 'I don't hide behind doors and spill drinks over people's clothes, Sirius,' he pointed out.

He appeared to consider this. 'I suppose so.'

Lupin sighed. 'Just promise me that when I wake up after the next full moon, I won't see her standing over me.'

Sirius frowned. 'I'm sure she wouldn't go quite so far as that.'

'Perhaps, but I wouldn't care to give her the chance.'

He snorted. 'Why, is there something you're embarrassed about?' He seemed about to make an inappropriate joke, but the glare he received caused him to back away a little. 'Alright, I promise.' He got up and drew another ferret from his bag. 'But I still think you should talk to her.'

Lupin sighed and shook his head. 'I doubt it would make any difference, but thank you for listening, Sirius. I appreciate it.' He gave Buckbeak another pat on the head as he left the room, feeling a little better than he had done that morning. As the door clicked shut behind him, he scratched absently at his elbow then grimaced. Itching powder was more difficult to wash out than you'd think.


	4. Chocolate and Watermelon

_Author's Note: Thanks for sticking with me, guys. This series has turned out to be nearly twice as long as I originally thought! Looking at around 9 chapters altogether, and getting to the slightly shippier stuff soon (chapter 5 will probably be the fluffiest one yet). I'm going to say right now that I really want Tonks' hair. Her crazy colour choices can never be exploited too much in fanfic in my opinion._

* * *

'Oh, not _again!' _Sirius' growl carried through the house as Lupin descended the stairs. It was Friday afternoon, and with only a few hours until work ended (there was just one more meeting to go), he was looking forward to spending most of the evening with a book and a cup of tea.'What's the matter, Sirius?' he asked calmly as his friend emerged from the reading room.

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Someone's hidden four sacks full of potions in there, and I'd bet you ten galleons it's contraband.'

He sighed. 'Mundungus again?'

'I've had enough of it. We're supposed to be an Order, not somewhere to keep his "merchandise".' He gestured at the door with his wand. 'Couldn't keep an eye on it for a minute, could you? Be best to interrogate him with the evidence still here.'

Lupin smiled. 'Least I can do, Padfoot.' The defences meeting wasn't for another ten minutes. He still had plenty of time.

With a grateful nod Sirius set off to find the wizard responsible, leaving Lupin to step inside.

The reading room wasn't being used at the moment; it was still being cleaned after twelve long years of neglect. The floor had been swept but the blinds covering the window were furred with dust, and blanket-covered furniture and boxes of things to sort had been pushed up against the wall. The sheet covering the large table near the door had been folded back to reveal several burlap sacks stuffed with glass bottles that had been previously hidden underneath it.

Lupin knelt down and began to sort through them, careful not to break any in case they contained poison. The bottles were of various different sizes and shapes but none had a label to identify their contents. Every single one was filled with the same foggy, pale pink concoction. Cautiously, he uncorked a long thin bottle and took a small sniff. Chocolate. He frowned, swilling the contents around. Potions wasn't his strongest subject but he had a pretty decent knowledge and there were none he could recall that were cocoa-based. Setting the bottle down on the table, he picked up another and unstoppered it. Chocolate again. He tried another, then another. All chocolate. Unless he was mistaken it was dark chocolate. A Honeyduke's brand to be precise, much like the kind he often bought whenever he could manage a trip to Hogsmeade...

'Ah,' he murmured with a nod to himself. 'Amortentia.' The most powerful love potion ever invented; of course it would smell of chocolate. But what on earth was Mundungus doing with a hundred bottles of it?

'Special delivery?' asked a familiar voice.

Lupin smiled and straightened up. 'Stolen goods, more likely.'

Tonks wandered in, eyeing the bags. Today her hair was short and wavy, bright red with streaks of green. 'Dung been dealing in bad goods again?' She sat down on the edge of the table and picked up one of the opened bottles, holding it up to the light. 'Hope it's not Polyjuice, or Molly'll go nuts.'

'No. It's Amortentia.' He gestured at the bags. 'All of it, as far as I can tell.'

'Ooh, _lurrve_ potion.' She beamed at him like a Cheshire cat, swinging her legs under the table. 'Better not leave them lying around unguarded, then. A_nyone_ could steal some, and then who knows what might happen?'

Lupin pretended not to notice the meaningful eyebrow-wiggling that accompanied this last statement, but surreptitiously bent down to make sure the other bags were fastened. You couldn't be too careful, after all.

He looked up as a bottle was slid across the table to him, and caught it before it could fall off the edge. 'Go on, then. What d'you smell?' Tonks held a second bottle to her nose and inhaled deeply. 'Hmm. I'll tell you mine if you go first.'

Amortentia was unique amongst potions: its scent was evocative of whatever a person found attractive so it was unique to each person who smelled it. Lupin realised that he was very interested to know what hers would be.

'Very well.' Lupin breathed in the silvery vapours that coiled up from the open bottle. Now that he knew what to look for, he was able to decipher the multiple scents that overlaid each other. **'**Chocolate,' he told her, recoiling as the scents made him dizzy. With the full moon only a week away his nose was particularly sensitive and he had to fight the urge to sneeze.

'Five points to Hufflepuff. I guessed that one. Okay, my go.' She paused dramatically, her brown eyes turning green to match her hair. 'Petrol. The old diesel stuff my dad used to put in his van when I was a kid.'

Lupin sighed wistfully. 'Books. Musty, old books with leather spines.'

Tonks' eyes never left his as her voice lowered to a murmur. 'Earth, after lightning. That crackly, damp electric smell.'

'The burn of wax candles.'

'Fireworks.'

They smiled at each other. It was like trading secrets. Tonks fiddled with the cap of the bottle as she waited for him to name another scent, and he found the movement of her fingers strangely fascinating. It was then that Lupin became aware of something else in the potion that he'd missed before; something soapy yet vaguely fruity. It was one of those factory imitations of a smell, fake yet still pleasant. He frowned and took another sniff. 'Shampoo, I think?' That was new. What was more, he knew it was something he'd smelled quite often, but he just couldn't place it.

Tonks' legs swung to a halt. 'Shampoo?'

'Yes, though I don't know why. Coconut maybe, or perhaps...' His voice trailed off as his eyes settled on her green and red hair. _Watermelon_.

Tonks laughed softly. 'Oh, yeah? Well you know what else I smell?' She pushed off from the table and stood up, her eyes shining. But her expression faltered as her foot caught in the cover on the table and she fell forwards, arms flailing. Lupin rushed to grab her around the waist before she hit the floor, taking most of her weight as her knees buckled. The bottle she'd been holding shattered on the carpet, spattering their clothes with potion.

'Sorry,' Tonks mumbled, her face muffled in his chest. As she struggled to right herself the door burst open and Mundungus stormed in, closely followed by Sirius.

'I told you,' he was saying angrily, 'it's got nuffing to do with me! What the bleedin' 'ell would I want with a load of potions? It's not like they'd even sell for that much!'

'And I suppose they all just rolled in by themselves, did they?' Sirius came to an abrupt half as he caught sight of them. 'Oh, are we interrupting?'

Lupin realised that he holding her tightly against him, so tightly in fact that Tonks appeared to be having difficulty breathing. Somehow her arms had ended up around his neck.

'No- um- Tonks just... fell.' He disentangled himself from her awkwardly, his cheeks burning.

'Never seen you move so fast, Remus,' said Tonks, massaging her ribs with a wince. She gave Lupin a little half-smile and he looked away quickly. There was an awkward pause.

Mundungus coughed. 'If we could do this another time, Sirius-'

'I don't think so. Molly's been meaning to have a little chat with you since she found your stash of "second-hand" cauldrons hidden in the attic. She was positively thrilled to hear that you're on the premises. '

Despite his ruddy complexion, Mundungus managed to go several shades paler. 'Oh no...'

'We'll leave you to it,' said Lupin hastily, only too eager to get away. The two of them fled the room like guilty students, not speaking until they were out of earshot. To his surprise, Tonks looked almost as embarrassed as he felt; her cheeks were pink as she attempted to flatten her ruffled red hair. 'I'm sorry,' he said hesitantly.

'For catching me? Don't be.' Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, Tonks leant on the banister and studied the splashes on her jeans. 'This stuff washes out, right?' She licked her finger and rubbed at a damp patch on her shin.

'I'm not sure.' Lupin could smell chocolate wafting off their clothes and it was starting to make him feel hungry. 'I'd better go and change,' he excused himself.

'Me too.' Tonks followed him. 'I'm thinking of having a shower as well. Care to join me?'

Lupin didn't even try to hide his amusement. 'What am I supposed to do with you?' he chuckled, shaking his head.

They rounded the landing and Tonks opened the bathroom door. 'Buy me a drink, maybe? Don't bother with any Amortentia, though. Alcohol would be fine.' She winked at him, then closed the door.

Lupin leant back against the wall and closed his eyes, smiling to himself. He'd never known anyone quite like Tonks. Hopefully Mundungus wouldn't feel the urge to talk; there were enough rumours about the two of them flying around as it was.

_'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine...' _As water pattered in the shower, Tonks began singing under her breath. _'You make me happy when skies are grey...' _Aside from the odd time when she'd hum a song that was stuck in her head, he'd rarely heard her sing. He was surprised how melodious her voice was. _'You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.'_

She had a nice voice, he noted idly, yawning. Strange how he'd never noticed that before...

'Aren't you supposed to be in a meeting, Remus?' Mrs. Weasley asked him as she stomped up the stairs. Her face was red as though she'd recently been shouting; it wasn't difficult to guess who had been on the receiving end.

Lupin's jaw went slack with horror. 'The defences meeting!' he yelped. 'How could I have forgotten?'

'Well, the last I saw they weren't in the best of moods, so you'd better hurry.'

Lupin all but fell down the stairs to the drawing room, cursing the fact that he didn't have time to change out of his potion-splashed trousers. How did Tonks keep distracting him like this? It was starting to get embarrassing. He couldn't allow himself to keep falling into that trap, he told himself sternly. Lives depended upon the Order and nothing could come before that. In any case, once this meeting was over he had the weekend to himself.

And so for the next hour and a half he concentrated fully on the task in hand without so much as a thought spared for anything else. Others found this slightly more difficult, and indeed Moody spent much of the meeting trying to figure out where the smells of pumpkin juice and scorched Death Eater were coming from.


End file.
